Loss of a master
by PhilosopherofthePen
Summary: When Mark hunts down his master, taken far into Death by a Greater Dead, his life changes, as he looks into his past, as he fights to save the bloodline he has been admitted into.
1. Chapter One: The Abhorsen's Help

First Sabriel Fic. Read and Review.  
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Mark felt the cold river pulling against him, sucking away his life. He was in Death. He walked across the river which did not end in sight. He was looking for something.

Mark was a Necromancer. Necromancers bound spirits to their will and tried to increase their influence over the land, breaking charter stones, and terrorizing villages. But Mark was different.

When he was a child, before he had fully become a Necromancer, he had raised a Dead Hand to kill some bullies that had been torturing him. But the Abhorsen was in town. He stopped him from killing the bullies. The Abhorsen took pity on the kid, and took him in for a year, teaching him the ways of an Abhorsen, because he had no sucessor.

By the time Mark had finished reading the Book of the Dead, he had been Abhorsen-in-waiting for almost a year. He had also learned how to use the Charter, and quickly became more skilled with the Charter than anyone he had met in the years of his training. He was not as skilled with the bells, however. He knew how to use the bells, and he could banish Spirits with little trouble, but he was not as musical as most of the other Abhorsens. He had to spend a lot of his free time practicing his musical skill, for if he was found in Death without bells, his voice would be the only thing keeping him from losing controll in Death.

As he trudged acros the river, fighting the tide, he saw a glimmer. He smiled, knowing that he found what he was looking for.

As he got closer, it changed from a glimmer to a tiny ball of light. When he picked it up, it was about the size of his closed fist. When he looked at it, he could see the Charter marks flowing around, making up the light. He knew that he now could go past the first gate, to find the next ball of energy..

His master had fallen deep into death. When he fell, he shed his energy, denying the Greater Dead what it wanted, and even though he didn't know it, a path twoards his master.

Right before his master had gone to investigate a rumor of a Greater Dead walking again by Roble Town, his master had told him of the circumstances in which he had found Mark, which he erased from his mind by the Charter. He told me that he was disturbed not by how he was using the powers, or his skill of Free Magic, but how he had a bandolier of Bells, and a Book of the Dead. Right before he left, he gave him a blessing, and a box, telling him that if he should not return, he should open the box. And with little more, his master had left on his search of this Greater Dead.

_Will I ever find him? _Mark asked himself, doubtful. He knew that he had gone past the Eighth Gate before, the last Precinct before true Death, the Precinct of no return, but that had been with his master.

Mark paused for a second, hand going back to the box his master had given him before he left, but snapped his hand back.

_I will find him _Mark thought more bravely than he felt, and started walking twoards the First Gate, and beyond.


	2. Chapter Two: Sword of Power

As Mark emerged from the First Gate, he knew that something was wrong. He sensed something, but he just couldnt place what it was.

And with dread, he suddenly realized.

He sensed five Greater Dead nearby. As he looked around for them, the water in front of him erupted into a geyser. Riding it was one of the Greater Dead he had sensed, pulling the water up from below it, hissing at him. Mark drew his sword, wreathed in fierey Charter Marks.

_My first sword _Mark thought. He had been given this sword by his master when he had become offically the Abhorsen-in-waiting. He had put the Charter Marks on the sword itself, for it's Charter Marks were long dead. He had put Charter Marks of fire, speed, unraveling, and most importantly, of binding.

It a mundane sword when he had been given it, but for one Charter spell that lasted. It was not a strong spell, but one spelled to last a thousand generations.

_The Clayr Saw me, the Wallmaker made me, the Abhorsen weilds me._ Those words were written in fire along the flat of the sword.

As far as he knew, he thought that almost all Abhorsen swords said that, or something extremely similar.

and slashed his sword through the geyser. He heard a scream and realized that one of the other Greater Dead were actually hanging on to the other one.

Mark drew Saraneth, and held it in the air for a second. Then making sure that there were no Greater Dead ready to jump him as soon as he rang, he rang the bell, attempting to bind them to his will. They cringed and screamed, trying to resist the bell, but they could not. Few were strong enough to resist Saraneth, one of the strongest of the bells, the bender of wills.

"Sit!" He yelled commandingly. The Greater Dead, trying to resist, sat down jerkily, but their will was already bent into Marks controll.

Mark put his hand on the bell, silencing it, and then put it back into his bandolier. Then he looked at the dead around him.

"I order you to walk beyond the Ninth Gate, never to return, where your souls will rest for all eternity!" Mark yelled commandingly. One of the Greater Dead recognised his voice.

"Abhorsen!" It hissed angrily at Mark as it was forced to walk to it's ending. It tried to turn and attack him, but Saraneth had him in too tight of a grip. After they had all jumped into the Second Gate, Mark relaxed.

Mark sheathed his sword, and stopped for a moment. He felt the presense of his master getting further away. Mark swore violently, then walking to the giant sinkhole of water that was the Second Gate, he spoke the words, and it froze into a giant spiralling-inwards stair.

As he walked the water resumed behind and above him. Just like all the gates, this gate was deceptive of it's distance, and he quickly made it to the bottom of the sinkhole.

Right before he walked all the way through the Second gate, he remembered the Third Precing, and got ready to run.


	3. Chapter Three: A Necromancer Illuminatio...

As soon as Mark walked through the gate, he began to run. After he had taken his first few steps, the spell that held the Second Gate for him also let go the wave of the Third Precinct that it was holding back.

As Mark ran, he did not look back. If he did, he would slow down enough to be hit by the wave, and be vulnerable to the dead in the Fourth Precince, if there were any.

Mark thought back to the days when his teacher, mentor, and master, the Abhorsen had taken him into death to learn how to traverse the treacherous ways.

They had only gone to the Sixth Precinct, but Mark felt that with his genral sense of death, he would be able to tackle the other Precincts that he had only studied about. He now doubted that he could survive past the Sixth Precinct, but he knew that to save his master, he would need to go further even than that, perhaps to the Ninth Precinct.

He felt the wave nearing him, and then he saw the Third Gate. Without stopping, he yelled the words for the gate, and ran through to safety just in time. As soon as he had passed through the waterclimb, the wave hit the wall he had passed through.

As he looked around the Fourth Precinct, he saw and sensed nothing, and relaxed. The Fourth Precinct tended to be empty, because the stunned Dead from the Third Precinct washed straight through to the Fifth. Grabbing his sword, he prodded in front of him, because this Precinct had many holed, and if you fell, you are trapped there untill something or someone pulls you out. As he sidestepped a hole in front of him, he sensed something was wrong.

The Precinct was quiet. No rushing of the Fourth Gate. Nothing.

Mark knew what that meant. A Greater Dead or a Necromancer was coming from the Fifth Precint. He put his sword up into a defensive position, and then quickly grabbed Saraneth, ready to ring it if needed.

Mark tensed, hearing the roar of the Fourth gate again. He looked over at the Fourth Gate.

When he looked at the Fourth Gate, he saw a man, wreathed in flames. A Necromancer. A Free Magic sorceror. Evil.

Mark tensed, ready to ring Saraneth if the Necromancer tried to use Saraneth too, but realized something strange. The Necromancer had not noticed him. In face, the Necromancer had his back to him. As Mark puzzled over what he was doing, he heard a whistle, and the roar of the Fourth Gate stopped again. The Necromancer was calling a spirit he had bound from the Fifth Precinct.

Mark slowly made his way twoards the Necromancer, making sure the Necromancer didn't notice him, checking for holes, and maneuvering around them.

Quickly he got past the feild of holes, and was only five feet away from the foul being. The stench of Free Magic nauseated Mark, but the Necromancer was a weak Necromancer, so the Free Magic stench did not render him useless. After wating for a few seconds to make sure that the Necromancer didn't notice him, he rang Saraneth.

Right then, the Necromancer turned around, Saraneth in hand, and rang it too. As they battled for domination over the other's will, the Greater Dead exploded out of the Fourth Gate, breaking both of their concentration. Mark quickly rang again before the Necromancer could do anything. As the Necromancer was about to send his Greater Dead at Mark, he froze, unable to do anything except what Mark said he could. Mark took the Necromancers bandolier of bells, and threw them into one of the holes behind him.

"What is your name?" Mark asked the Necromancer commandingly.

"Shade" the Necromancer hissed angry.

"Well, Shade, send your Greater Dead past the Ninth Gate, never to return." Mark commanded. The Necromancer hissed, and began to speak.

"Ammonon the Destroyer, walk beyond the Ninth Gate, and never return!" The Necromancer commanded angrily, using the Greater Dead's true name. It roared at him as it's spirit was sucked twoards the Ninth Gate.

"Now, Shade, tell me where the Abhorsen is hidden" Mark commanded.

The Necromancer hissed happily, tauntingly. "He is trapped far in death by one of my lords minions, for he wishes to break the Great Charter."

_Could this be true? _Mark asked himself, disturbed. Then he snapped back to attention.

"Who is your master?" Mark asked

"Who else but Kerrigor? After we freed him, he wants revenge on this new bloodline of Abhorsen, Clayr, and the Royal family.

"Where are they taking the Abhorsen?" Mark asked. The Necromancer started laughing. Mark could feel his controll over the Necromancer waning. And like when you stretch a rubber band too far, it snapped.

Laughing, the Necromancer jumped at Mark, knife in hand. Mark swung his sword up and at the Necromancer, slicing through knife and neck alike. The dead Necromancer slumped to the ground, head hanging on to the body by just a thread.

Mark stood over the Necromancer, seeing the suprise in his face, showing that he had barely a second before he realized he was dead.

_Too bad _Mark thought, pitying Shade_ He was just a kid. But a Necromancer is a Necromancer _He reminded himself.

_Is Kerrigor really trying to break the Great Charter Stones? _Mark thought to himself, and shuddered. _I must stop him before he destroys the power of the Charter_

Wiping his sword on the Necromancers clothes, Mark stood up, and spoke the words to the Fourth Gate, and put Saraneth away carefully. And with little more, Mark walked through the Fourth Gate.


	4. Chapter Four: Yrael, the Eight Bright Sh...

As Mark walked out of the Fourth Gate, into the Fifth Precinct, he began to wonder about what Shade had told him.

"Who else but Kerrigor?" Mark muttered to himself disturbed. He knew that Kerrigor had been bound by Sabriel, right after the Dark Age, where Free Magic ruled the Old Kingdom, and most Charter Stones had been broken. The damage was never fully recovered, and many places had to be abandoned because of amazing amounts of Dead and Necromancers lurking around those places. He was held by Ranna, known as the sleeper, was the smallest and weakest of the bells, but even so, it could hold very tight also.

Kerrigor was part of a Sight by the Clayr at Sabriel's death hundreds of years ago. They said that when Kerrigor escaped the bonds of tiny Ranna, the world would end. But that was one of the many possibilities that the world had.

And Mark knew that if Kerrigor was to end the general peace of the Old Kingdom, it's residents would give them hell before he took over.

Mark knew that if he was to defeat Kerrigor, he would need the fabled ring of Yrael that the twenty-third Abhorsen to bind the weakened form of the Eigth Bright Shiner, known as Mogget.

Mogget had been freed during the second awakening of Orranis the Destroyer. His power was the final part in the binding of Orannis, the most powerful and violent.

Yrael had stopped trying to get his revenge on the Abhorsen, and now slept in the Abhorsens house, waiting for a disaster to occur. He was held tight by Ranna, and barely woke, and had been sleeping for over Fifty years.

Kerrigor had been bound similarly to mogget, being transformed into a cat bound by Ranna, and placed in the protective coffin he had used to protect his body before he was defeated. This coffin was held in the deepest cellar in the Abhorsen's house. All the sendings in the house avoided that evil place, if possible, for even though weakened, Kerrigor's Free Magic stench leeched their essence, for they were made of the Charter.

Mark knew that if he could not rescue his master, then it would be his task to wake Yrael, and ask him for the ring to bind Kerrigor.

Mark cleared his mind of the possibility that he could not rescue his master. He would rescue his master. He continiued walking, fighting the current that if he gave into, would consume his soul.

There were many Dead here, but most of them did not have the will or the strength to overtake a living being. The others realized that Mark was an Abhorsen, albiet in-waiting, and generally kept out of his way, but a few Dead decided to make it hard for him.

A group of four Dead, obviously very cocky, snuck up behind Mark, not knowing that he was an Abhorsen-in-waiting, and since they only saw his back, did not see the Bells that he was wearing.

Mark sensed the dead, and knew that they were nearing. He made sure that they had not nociced that he had noticed them, and pulled out Saraneth quietly while walking.

Right when he sensed them jump at him, he turned around, waving Saraneth in a graceful figure eight pattern, that his master had taught him at an early age, and yelliing "Stop!"

In a few seconds, Mark had subugated their wills, and they froze in place. Mark spoke again the words that he felt he had said millions of times before:

"I order you to walk beyond the Ninth Gate, never to return, where your souls will rest!" He yelled, so no other dead would even consider attacking him.

Moaning in suprize, recognizing the Abhorsen's famous words, began to walk stiffly twoards the Sixth Gate, their decomposed vocal cords making angry growls, hisses and moans. As soon as they had disappeared from sight, the dead stopped watching, and stopped paying attention to Mark.

As he put his bell away, he felt his master was in pain. It took him a few seconds to realize that this was truly his connection to his master, and then figured out that his master was still further into death, possibly the Eigth Precinct.

Crying out, Mark sprinted twoards the Fifth Gate, calling up Charter Marks of speed. Rushing twoards the Gate, he did not see the man cloaked in shadow appear in front of him. Right before Mark saw the Necromancer, it already had his Saraneth out ringing it.

Mark screamed, luckily creating the note that would create the most discord with Saraneth's note. While running, he pulled his sword out, slicing the Necromancer in half, still running. As the Necromancers body slowly smouldered to nothing, Mark was almost at the Fifth Gate. A few feet from the Fifth Gate, he yelled the words, and ran through.

Only caring about rescuing his master, he forgot that the precinct he was about to come into he had never been too. In his rush to save his master, he also didn't remember the caution to avoid conflict in the Sixth Precinct...


End file.
